Does a COLLEGE DEGREE define me?

Before we elaborate on this topic to understand whether or not a college degree can define a person, let us understand the purpose of both ‘a college‘ and ‘a degree‘.

A college as an educational institution has been established to impart specialized knowledge and skills and to educate the students in a holistically, to excel in a stream of study. A degree is further used to certify the level of skill sets and knowledge a student has acquired during the course duration in a college. The question to be answered here is, ” does the purpose to study in a college and acquire a degree, sustain even today?”.

Candidates who are prospective employees in an industry are evaluated by the degree they carry on paper and not what the person is really capable of. To beat this inefficient evaluation method, recruiters are constantly on an innovation spree trying to realize ‘THE CANDIDATE’ for their company.

We can also see a parallel trend evolving which is – catching them young. Recruitment firms are now in a neck tight competition to engage with students and strike a relationship for a long term association. In India this trend is interestingly upside-down. We all know the potential is at the Bottom of the Pyramid but industry and institutions, who are pretty much the organized sector, are not attempting to reach the potential from bottom. Catch them younger to beat the heat.

Why is this not happening?

This is not happening because the labour force at the bottom are large, huge in magnitude and number. This is impeding efforts to reach and make them a part of the organized sector. What is the way to make it happen? The answer to it is, ” COLLABORATION OF INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT AND ABODES OF EDUCATION FOR SKILL ENHANCEMENT AND ATTITUDINAL SHIFTS”

When such a congregation is possible with smart execution, India will deliver anything and everything with finesse and perfection and build a new age.

The answer to this questions still remains abstract. After engaging with the thoughts above, a person might be influenced to say ” A college degree does not define me.” It definitely can’t define or judge a person, but it should be considered as a valuable and authentic instrument to understand the potential of a candidate. Again, people who use a College Degree as the only instrument to evaluate will encounter fallacies in their judgement. It could be used as one of the parameters to understand the abilities and anticipate potential of a candidate.

For students who are scrambling to get a degree may find this thought process useful.

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